At the end of the war MI5 suspected him of espionage and interrogated him but he did not confess. Nevertheless they kept James, his wife Jean and their young family under close surveillance for a number of years, regularly intercepting their mail and recording their telephone conversations. Only after James's death did the true significance of what he might have revealed become clear: in his wartime office role, James had access to the plans for Operation Overlord, D-Day. In this book, James's son Hamish tells the story of his parents, their interaction with the communist party and their flirtation with wartime espionage. It is a unique portrait of two very ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary events of World War Two and the Cold War.

Hamish MacGibbon was Director of the Publishing House James and James. He is the son of James and Jean MacGibbon.